By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as
follows:

Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of this order is to ensure that
the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense and
the Environmental Protection Agency implement laws relating to the
environment and natural resources in a manner that promotes cooperative
conservation, with an emphasis on appropriate inclusion of local
participation in Federal decisionmaking, in accordance with their
respective agency missions, policies, and regulations.

Sec. 2. Definition. As used in this order, the term "cooperative
conservation" means actions that relate to use, enhancement, and
enjoyment of natural resources, protection of the environment, or both,
and that involve collaborative activity among Federal, State, local,
and tribal governments, private for-profit and nonprofit institutions,
other nongovernmental entities and individuals.

Sec. 3. Federal Activities. To carry out the purpose of this
order, the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and
Defense and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability
of appropriations and in coordination with each other as appropriate:

(a) carry out the programs, projects, and activities of the agency
that they respectively head that implement laws relating to the
environment and natural resources in a manner that:

(i) facilitates cooperative conservation;

(ii) takes appropriate account of and respects the interests of
persons with ownership or other legally recognized interests in land
and other natural resources;

(iii) properly accommodates local participation in Federal
decisionmaking; and

(iv) provides that the programs, projects, and activities are
consistent with protecting public health and safety;

(b) report annually to the Chairman of the Council on Environmental
Quality on actions taken to implement this order; and

(c) provide funding to the Office of Environmental Quality
Management Fund (42 U.S.C. 4375) for the Conference for which section 4
of this order provides.

Sec. 4. White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The
Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality shall, to the extent
permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations:

(a) convene not later than 1 year after the date of this order, and
thereafter at such times as the Chairman deems appropriate, a White
House Conference on Cooperative Conservation (Conference) to facilitate
the exchange of information and advice relating to (i) cooperative
conservation and (ii) means for achievement of the purpose of this
order; and

(b) ensure that the Conference obtains information in a manner that
seeks from Conference participants their individual advice and does not
involve collective judgment or consensus advice or deliberation.

Sec. 5. General Provision. This order is not intended to, and
does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States,
its departments, agencies, instrumentalities or entities, its officers,
employees or agents, or any other person.